A Visitor
by IloveBeatles
Summary: Lena Griffin comes looking for Dally, but finds Darry, ponyboy, soda and the gang. Will something spark between her and one of the Curtis brothers? Crappy summary and title, sorry. Rated T for some language and possibly other stuff in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

I stepped down from the bus, holding tightly to my meager bag of belongings

I stepped down from the bus, holding tightly to my meager bag of belongings. I walked quickly, realizing it wasn't the smartest idea to be walking alone at night in a city I knew nothing about. I looked at the worn, three year old letter in my hand and turned down the next narrow road. I counted to the fourth house in and stood before it. It was a small one-floor house, the door was open and I could see the outline of someone reading by a faint light in what looked like it was the kitchen.

Slowly, hesitantly I started up the cement path. I reached the door just as a brighter light was flipped on inside the house and someone came to the screen door and yanked it open, almost causing me to fall off the step. He was tall and very handsome and, remembering the descriptions in the letter, I managed to mumble out "Are you Sodapop Curtis?"

"No," he answered, " I'm Darry, what do you want with Soda?'

"Oh, Nothing, I was actually looking for Dally, Dallas Winston, is he here?"

He was silent for a moment, then said very quietly " No, Dally's not here".

"Oh, well then do you know where I can find him?" I asked.

A pained look crossed his face as he said "Dally's, …Dally's dead."

"He's ….Oh my God, how?" Dally couldn't be dead. I mean, I know how much he got into trouble, but he always got himself out of it. He wouldn't have let himself get killed.

I must have looked really pathetic because all of the sudden he looked at me and invited me inside. We were standing in the kitchen, and when I looked at him closer I realized he wouldn't have fit Sodapop's description after all. He was extremely handsome, but not in the pretty-boy way that I imagined Soda. He was tall and muscular, looked to be in his twenties, with dark brown hair and icy blue eyes. They had an almost sad look to them, like he had been through too much in not enough time. Breaking the awkward silence and he asked " What's your name, and, um how did you know Dally?"

"I'm Lena, Lena Griffin. And I, …I'm from New York, I knew Dally from there."

"Do you have a place to stay?"

"Um…no."

"Well, you're welcome to stay here tonight if you want, you can tell us your whole story tomorrow morning."

"Really? That would be great."

"Sure, my brothers Sodapop and Ponyboy are in that room", he said, pointing to an open door that I could here contented snores coming from, "and I'll be in there" he said pointing to the other room."

"Thank you so much," I said, truly grateful, and sat down to mull over what I had just learned.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer- I own only Lena

**Disclaimer- I own only Lena**

Chapter 2 ( Darry's POV)

I was leaning against the kitchen counter reading_ Gone with the Wind, _I had borrowed it from Ponyboy because, believe it or not, I love reading. You would never think so, given the fact that I never have time for much else except work.

I heard soft footsteps against the sidewalk. I turned on the light and opened the door just as she stepped up to it, making her jump. I had never seen her before, but boy was she a looker. Real dark brown curly hair, just a little bit beyond her shoulders and wonderful green eyes. I guessed she was about 17 or 18. Even in her bedraggled state, dusty, oversized clothes and a small knapsack slung over her shoulders, she was wearing a determined expression, a look that told you not to mess with her.

When she asked for Dally, I told her, I had to. The mask of toughness she had been wearing broke and I could see the shock, sadness, exhaustion and fear in her lovely features. I surprised myself when I told her to come in, to stay the night, saying things could be explained in the morning.



I woke up to the sound of screaming. The first was unrecognizable and feminine and then I heard a familiar yelp. I burst out of my room to find Soda pop frantically wrapping a towel around his bare waist while shouting "HOLY SHIT!! WHAT THE-"

"I'm sorry!! Sorry omigod! I'm so sorry!!" Lena was covering her eyes with her hands and fighting laughter.

"Dammit Darry!" exclaimed Soda, "tell me next time you bring home a guest, won't 'ya!?"

"What, no! she just, well you were already asleep anyway," I stuttered, as Ponyboy came in from the kitchen a mouthful of chocolate cake showing through his grin.

Lena uncovered her eyes, seeing that Sodapop was halfway decent, and started gathering her few belongings. I looked at her, it wasn't like me to just invite some strange girl who showed up on our doorstep to stay the night. But something about her eyes made me trust her. I knew she wasn't lying when she said she was looking for Dally and she looked like she was about to start bawling when I told her what had happened, and it makes me uncomfortable when girls start crying, I never know what to do.

"Thanks for letting me stay the night, but I guess it I should get going," she said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Wait," I stopped her halfway to the door, "we can't just let you leave with no where to go, and besides, you still have to explain yourself."

"Yeah, explain, who are you and what are you doing here," Soda said.

When she started to talk about leaving again, Ponyboy spoke up, "Hold on, how did you know Dally?"

"I live in New York," she started, "well, I used to. But I guess Dally told you guys all about what happened back then?"

"Nope, all we know is that he got put in jail when he was 10," said Soda.

"Oh, well I can tell you what happened if you really want to know. I'll get it if you don't believe me, but I guess it makes sense that Dally didn't tell you much about it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer- I don't own the outsiders. Wish I did, but no such luck.**

**AN: Ok, Sorry I haven't written in forever for those of you who are reading, I have an idea of where I want to go with this but I'm still not sure how I'm going to get there. **

**Darry POV**

She sat back down on the couch and started to explain herself.

" Well, we'd known each other since we were two. He was the closest thing I ever really had to a brother, or any kind of real family for that matter. I was two and a half years older, actually. But Dally grew up so fast that it never seemed like there was much of an age difference. Both my parents were drunks and so was his dad. His mom was real cool, though. But on night his dad came home really hammered, he started threatening her and went at her with a broken bottle. He beat her and screamed at her and threw her off the back porch. She wasn't a very strong person, physically. I don't know how she lasted as long as she did with Dally _and_ his father. But Dally lovered her, I could always tell how much he lover her and how much he hated his old man. Anyway, Dally was there the whole time. Someone called the cops but she was already dead. Dally ran as soon as he knew that. He came and found me. We sat on my back steps and he told me what had happened. He had bruises and cuts all over and I knew his father had gotten to him first, that he had tried to stop his mother from getting hurt. I'd never really seen him cry before. He sobbed for almost an hour before anger took over. He started running and wouldn't let me follow him. I was worried, but I figured he just needed some time to cool down. I looked for him later but couldn't find him. I didn't think he would be at his house, but I checked anyway. There was a police car parked out in front and another on driving away. The police said they just caught this ten year old kid, he had robbed a supermarket, carrying a loaded gun then tried to kill his own father. He was going to have a trial and then maybe get put in jail."

We'd never known any of that about Dally. I'd figured he was just a tough kid who got tougher in jail, sent in there for some stupid punk trick. It made me hate him even more for dying. But I didn't really hate him, I couldn't.

" I visited him almost everyday. They kept him in there for about six months. When he got out he seemed like a different person. Like I hardly even knew him anymore, like he didn't care. He stopped talking to me, startedhanging around with a lot of rough hoods. One time they went and trashed the ring-leader of the Socs house. They broke windows and all kinds of junk. The Soc came home while they were still there. The rest of the guys split, but Dally was too preoccupied to notice the pissed off Soc standing right behind him. He managed to get away that time, but after that they were out to skin him. He told me he was leaving, told me he didn't know where but that he'd write or something."

"And that's when he ended up here," stated Pony.

"But why'd ya come now, and how did you know where to find us?" asked Soda.

"He wrote every once in a while. It was out of character for him, but he wrote about Johnny and the gang. He wanted me to come out here too. He gave me your address and, well, I…" she looked uncomfortable," I got into some trouble, I just had to leave."

She had her hand resting on her arm and I noticed a large bruise.

"So," Ponyboy asked, "what do you plan on doing now?"

"I,….I really don't know. I guess I'll find an apartment or something."

"If there's something we can do to help…," I offered. I somehow felt like I owed it to her.

"Thanks," she said, then sat there for a few moments, as if she was trying to grasp a concept," So Dally's really dead, huh?"

It took me by surprise but I answered, "Yeah."

"Mind me asking how?" she almost whispered.

"The Police." I couldn't handle telling the whole story.

"Our friend Johnny," Pony started to explain," he was the only thing Dally ever really loved. There was this fire and Johnny got hurt pretty bad. He died in the hospital and Dally just broke. He went and robbed a grocery store. The police came after him and he pulled out a gun on them. It wasn't loaded but the fuzz didn't know that."

"Oh," she said quietly. A tear slid down her cheek and she brushed it away angrily, "I've got to go."

Soda was putting on his DX uniform and I realized I was probably late for work. "I've got to go to work, if you want me to drive somewhere?" I asked.

"Um, alright", she said.

I looked over at Ponyboy. I wasn't too keen on leaving him here alone since everything that had happened, but I was confident that he was pretty much recovered. He hadn't had much trouble explaining it to Lena, it seemed like was accepting it now.

He seemed to read my thoughts when he said, "Don't worry, Darry. Two-Bit 'll probably be here soon anyway.

"OK, see ya later, not too many smokes today, 'ya hear?", I warned him.

"Yeah, yeah."

Lena followed me outside and I opened the door of my old, beat-up Chevy for her.

**Yay! Chapter 3! **

**Reviews are lovely!!!!!**


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